The Ghost Fleet
by NLKimbo
Summary: A short story set approximately 130 years after Deep Space Nine. Testing new starships isn't all that its cracked up to be in this story. Some gay themes present.
1. Chapter 1 - Plan 112 Phase B: A New Begi...

_The Ghost Fleet Part 1_  
Plan 112 Phase B: A New Beginning   
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**A Year Ago, Ghost Fleet Construction Yard II (Certes I) **  
Hope is the expectation that something outside of ourselves, something or someone external, is going to come to our rescue and we will live happily ever after.  
_Dr. Robert Anthony  
_

  


Dr. Janet Yamidovosok, one of the leading Segan specialists on impulse drives and engines glanced over her paperwork. Attached to her new impulse designs was the new technical specification files on the next generation Segan Heavy destroyer and Segan Heavy battleship. She glanced over the attached picture of the vessel docked just outside her office and looked up from her desk to take another look at the vessel she had had a hand in developping. Her citizenship in the Segan Monarchy was contradictory, she had been born on Earth and she had lived in the Federation all her life. Yet when she was 20, she applied to an exchange program at her Engineering college and was exchanged with a student from the Monarchy. Since then, she had never returned to her home, fascinated by the Monarchy and in love with ship designs produced by the minds of the Monarchy. Yet, she had grown to a level of prestige little given to a foreigner, and had grown to be called "the most amazing engineering specialist the Monarchy had ever produced." If only the reporters knew, she wasn't Segan originally, but she definetely had a love for them.   
  
Captain Patrick Anderson walked out of the dark vessel and stepped onto the connecting umbilical that kept the vessel tied to the station. Captain Anderson turned and looked out the window to stare at his new command, he smiled seeing the triangular warp nacelles unpowered, giving the ship a serene, and prestine look of a sleeping panther. The new design was unique indeed, he stared at the vessel for a moment, a completely different vessel from anything the Segans had designed before. The neck of the vessel was quite amazing indeed, and he stared the forward most section of the new battleship, he smiled, thinking of what the vessel was capable of doing on paper. Now, he hoped, they would be able to make the ship practical, as well as ultra powerful. After staring at the ship for a couple minutes, he continued on his way out, feeling the airlock bidding him goodbye from the_ Selevenar_. He turned his head from one side to the next and made a right turn towards the Ghost Fleet's Research and Development sections. He noted the difference in uniform between those associated with Plan 112, and those who were not... in fact, they were already wearing the next generation multipurpose uniform and they were very large changes between the two uniforms. Anderson enjoyed his uniform, the constrast of bright yellows and grays made his uniform more lively than previous uniforms, from what he had heard, a Federation company had actually made the uniform, Nike's ACG division.   
  
Commander Davidson watched as his vessel proceeded on its hyper-transwarp course towards the Ghost Fleet Constructions Yards II Facility. The ride between the two construction yards wasn't that long, and since all systems had been blocked off by the Segan military, he didn't worry about having unexpected guests. He ordered the ship to slow to impulse as soon as they were in range and as the temporary wormhole opened, its colors, a light shade of blue, made the Clarel seem a strange occurance in space. The small next generation heavy destroyer appeared from the wormhole, a bright white flash of light blinking after it passed out of the wormhole. The wormhole dissapeared within minutes, and the destroyer continued on its course towards the massive, yet top-secret Ghost Fleet facilities. From the outside, the agile vessel completed its meanouvers and proceeded towards the central starbase that would house all the completed vessels of the Ghost Fleet. As the vessel entered inside the starbase, the other doors closed and tractor beams locked on to the ghost vessel. She was guided alongside her largest next-generation counterpart, and umbilicals were connected to her. Davidson nodded approvingly as the power management controls were handed to the Station's engineering section, and he stepped off his chair, tightening his jacket and taking a turbolift down to the umbilicals. He stepped out with a prideful air and asked his way around to Conference Room 111.   
  
Captain Anderson, glanced at his watch as he sipped his thebon, Anderson gathered his padds and placed them in his bag as he looked over the cafe admiring its futuristic style. Anderson turned around and walked down the station's commercial deck hoping to find a free turbolift. He walked for a couple minutes and finally entered an express turbolift, announcing Conference Room 111. He leaned on the guard railing and looked over his padds on the recommended officers to be members of his staff. They were all top performers from their vessels, and no matter what choice he made, his crew would be one hell of a crew. But Anderson's crew couldn't be just another one hell of a crew, it had to be the best of the hells, a crew that would be made legendary. The turbolift stopped, a hiss coming from it as it did. Anderson stepped out of the turbolift, the deck filled with a lot more people wearing ACG uniforms than on the commercial deck. This, however, was to be expected, this was the beginning of the decks most associated with Plan 112, the Segan's best preparation for the 2nd Great War.  
  
Anderson proceeded towards the conference room and made a left turn after passing 109 conference rooms, he looked across seeing Conference Room 110 and smiled. So many conference rooms, and on a good day, almost 90-some were used. As he stepped inside the conference room. He was welcomed by a couple of the Plan 112 division coordinators and he gave them all a warm smile. Some of them were hardened civilians, others trained military officers. He was one of the best Segan Captains and he knew it, that's why he had been selected to command the prototype, the first of them all. Anderson looked around for his lover, he had expected him to be here the day before, but he had heard that the Clarel had been held back for another day to confirm that the impulse engine designs had succeeded. He found him, sitting on one of the chairs facing towards the main viewer. Anderson smiled, walking down and taking the row behind his lover and placed his hands in front of his lover's eyes. _  
  
_"Missed you too, hun," Davidson smiled, "Now will ya mind restoring my sight, please?"   
  
"Sure thang," Anderson grinned, pecking Davidson on the tip of his nose as he placed his hand behind his back like an Admiral, "Took you long enough to get here... what did you do, get lost around the nebula again?"   
  
"Hehehe," Davidson snickered, "No way, they had to fix the impulse engines, they were afraid the ship's form would cause the engines to overload again."   
  
"Still haven't gotten that thing fixed, heh?" Anderson turned serious for a little while, jumping over the chairs, and landing next to Davidson, "I thought Dr. Yamidovosok had taken care of it."   
  
"She did," Davidson looked at Anderson, "That's until they decided to move the hyper-transwarp drives on the same deck, it's driving my entire crew nuts."   
  
"I could bet," Anderson smiled, "It seems like you're entire ship changes from the inside out each day, and that paint scheme, changing every day," Anderson laughed.   
  
"It's not funny," Davidson leaned his head and rested it on Anderson's shoulder, "Seriously, it's insane, the deck configuration changes everyday."   
  
"Sorry, hun," Anderson kissed Davidson's forehead, letting his hand rest on Davidson's left shoulder, "Comes with beta testing the new prototypes, I suppose."   
  
"Uh-huh," Davidson replied back, "Well, at least you and I are the best Captains out there, hehe... and the best lovers too!"   
  
"Will you two love birds cut the PDA out," Dr. Yamidovosok shouted, as she walked past Davidson and Anderson, "All right everyone, if you could please gather a seat, we have a lot to get through today."   
  
There was one thing to be said about Dr. Yamidovosok, she had grown well beyound her duties as Head of Propulsion systems for the Plan 112 vessels, she had also become project coordinator. This came with His Majesty King Jean-Louis' approval as well. Although she was one of the few civilian division heads, she was well accepted by the Plan 112 click, and she was ever more beloved by them all. The Doctor had a devotion to make the two new Segan designs the best they could be. And as she stood in front of the podium, she looked over her notes and nodded to all those who still weren't seating. The room began to quiet at a steady pace, and pretty soon, Dr Yamidovosok was ready to begin her meeting. Assembled were people from both the Clarel and Selevenar R&D teams, and she nodded approvingly to the bunch. She looked over her agenda, thinking the damned propulsion drives were back as a #1 problem on the Clarel class destroyer. She sighed... it was going to be a long meeting.   
  
"Clarel Impulse Propulsions," Yamidovosok looked over to her assistant Francine Cavalier, "Why the hell are we still having troubles with the impulse engines? I thought we had taken care of getting those impulse engines more efficient."   
  
"Well ma'am," Lieutenant Commander Yrishna DuBois glanced up, "It went fine until the hyper-transwarp people came and moved their drives onto the same deck... Since then the power grids on that deck have been forced to overload."   
  
"Clarel Transwarp Propulsions, "Yamidovosok was quite angered by the report, "You damn well know that you can't put two drives on the same deck! I told you to find someplace to move it so that it was more efficient... Do I have to do everything by myself? Move it to Deck 13, we can find some place to put the cargo space elsewhere."   
  
"Understood," Commander Holaron replied, looking at DuBois with the same anger Yamidovosok had produced.   
  
"All right," Yamidovosok looked over her agenda, "The construction of the Selevenar is proceeding very well from what I hear," Yamidovosok looked over to Anderson, "And I hear the Selevenar will be ready in 2 weeks to start getting some drives testing and deck analysis check-up done."   
  
"Aye, Doctor," Anderson spoke up, "She should be ready then, and she's looking very good," Anderson smiled, feeling Davidson's hand squeeze his own.   
  
"I agree, Captain," Yamidovosok replied, "I want the Selevenar to be ready to start recieving our engineers to figure out where everything's going to go and if everything on paper works right... The Quadaz sure know it didn't on the Clarel."   
  
"But she still looks great!" Davidson smiled as he heard a burst of laughter emit from the room.   
  
"So I hear," the Doctor answered, "Well, you're all dismissed and I'll see you all at the day's end. Davidson, your ship better be ready for Captain Anderson and my inspection."   
  
"Lord knows you're gonna get several different types of inspection, " Anderson grinned, kissing Davidson's cheek.   
  
"Oooh, just evil," Davidson smiled, "Doctor, me and my crew will be ready to welcome you in whenever you give us the word."   
  
"In an hour," Yadivosok replied, "And don't be late!"   


  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2 - The African Swallow in Space

_The Ghost Fleet Part 2_  
The African Swallow in Space **_  
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**A Year Ago, Ghost Fleet Construction Yard II (Certes I) **  
Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.  
_Angelique Arnauld  
_

  


An African Swallow is the fastest bird in the world, and with its speed comes beauty and grace. Dr. Yamidovosok glanced over the side of the umbilical to see the ship she was about to enter. It stayed alof, seemlingly defying gravity as she remained tied by the umbilical. Moored silently was the 322-meter long, 161-meter wide, and 45 meter tall destroyer, SRD Clarel. The vessel was the first of her class, and her designs clearly showed her infancy, yet even in its infant stage, the Clarel looked like a very impressive vessel. Yamidovosok smiled to herself, brushing a parcel of brown hair which had fallen from her cranium and hanged loose in front of her right eye. She parted it with her hand, a quick motion over her ear and joined her hands behind her back. Yamidovosok continued to glance at the dark vessel, which was to be a part of a supposed Segan last, and infinitely best hope for victory. As the airlock leading to the vessel opened, she was greeted by the traditional tapping of shoes as the starbase personell placed in charge of guarding the vessel, made a ceremonial salute of the gun to Dr. Yamidovosok. Yamidovosok handed her identity card and watched as the guards made a thorough check of her identity. There was however, little need to do so, for none of the facilities around here "existed".. officially. And if a foreign vessel were to enter this region of space, it'd be shot down, no questions asked. The idea was that the markers signalling the area of space as off-limits would be enough, for the word to the wise was always sufficient.   
  
Yamidovosok heard shouting behind her, which she knew to be shouting because except for her no one had come after her. The shouting seemed almost a distant murmur, but it was approaching fast and was heading this way. She turned around and glanced past the guards as she saw the young Captain in the new ACG uniform run towards the ship. _Late_, she thought to herself, _very late_. She glanced down the biological halls, leaning on the wall, seeing the ship's "skin" become lighter at her touch. She turned her eyes towards the Captain Anderson for him to continue his run. The Captain was obviously out of breath as his cheeks were a light pink when he arrived. He turned his head to the two guards and handed them his ID card, watching very impatiently as they cleared him for entry into his lover's ship. He smiled politely to them as they cleared him for entry, and Anderson stopped into the ship, taking a moment to gather back a steady breathing pattern. Anderson stepped in front of Yamidovosok, waching as her smile quickly changed into a frown. He sighed, hoping she would have excused him just this one, but the Doctor was a punctual woman, and punctuality was what she cared for.   
  
Dr. Yamidovosok grunted slightly and turned around, not even taking the time to give Captain Anderson a proper greeting. She was very mad at the Captain and was sure that he was going to feel it. As she walked down the hallways, the clanking of her shoes as it hit the metal floor,which had yet to be carpetted over was defeaning. Her walk was hurried, and Anderson had a slight trouble keeping up. As she made a turn, she walked down the central corridor of the deck and looked at the unpainted doors that led to the turbolift which would take her to the bridge's flight navigations. Hadn't she specifically told Captain Anderson and Commander Davidson not to be late? As she watched Anderson enter the turbolift, she noted his discomfort. She smiled, it was very interesting for a military man to be moved by her in such a way, but she had noticed it of all Segans she had been in contact with. Her stature, her attitude, and her manner impressed them into an almost mute subversity, except for those officials of the Royal Family. Anderson's body shifted, as if he was trying to say something, and refound its stability as the turbolift came to a screeching stop. The turbolift doors opened, revealing a slimmer of the CONN, which was still being worked upon by engineers of all types.   
  
Yamidovosok grabbed a padd from one of the supervisors that was assigned to help explain the current situation of the ship, and stepped over some fiberoptic cables that laid strewn on the floor. Anderson looked around, amazed the ship had even flown at warp speeds, let alone hyper-transwarp. Anderson's view was blocked partially as two engineers carrying plexiglass walked past Anderson and entered what would be the Commanding Officers' offices. Anderson smiled, seeing another sheet of plexiglass being cut and melted into a console's covering. Interesting he thought, the construction of the ship was going very similarly to the first starship constructions of the Monarchy, but after all, no manufacturing plants had been designed to make the parts needed for the Clarel class starship, which explained the style of construction. Yamidovosok grunted towards Anderson to follow her, as she walked past an immobile pocket of dust that appeared from the machinery that was working all around the new bridge set. Anderson followed her, looking around for his lover. He glanced over, thinking he had seen the Commander at the corner of his eyes, but thought nothing of it as he clasped his hands behind his back and nodded to some of the engineers who stood at attention at his passing.   
  
Late, Yamidovosok thought as she walked around the bridge, inspecting the Engineers' work. She looked around for Commander Davidson, sighing that these two Segan captains were so unpunctual. Just because they were the best Captains in the fleet didn't give them a right to be above time. She glanced around, noting that the engineers were doing an excellent job of getting these new 3D consoles installed. She watched as Commander Davidson appeared out of nowhere, passing her and giving Anderson a kiss. She was not amused, glaring at the two as they stopped kissing each other. She nodded to them, and walked over, placing a hand on either of the two gentlemen's shoulder. She gave them both a sarcastic smile, and led them and waited for either of them to speak. That was not forthcoming, and so they sat their for three minutes, awkwardly entangled in one another and waiting patiently for one person to say what they were thinking or were planning to say in the first place. Yamidovosok, being the leader she was, dropped her hands from either of the commanding officers' shoulders and stepped in front of them, doing an about face to face Captain Anderson and Davidson. She glanced at the two, trying to contain the anger which was uncontrollably burning within her.   
  
"Late!" She struggled under her breath, "You *both* were late! How dare you be late under my presence, I am Dr. Yamidovosok, I am not to be insulted in this manner, gentlemen, if you want to remain in this project I suggest you play the ballgame my way. Understood, gentlemen?"   
  
"Yes Ma'am," Captain Anderson and Commander Davidson replied in unison, looking over to Yamidovosok with an expection of more.   
  
"We're going to proceed with this little tour ,Commander Davidson," Yamidivosok sighed, "And we'll see how the construction's going. I'm glad the ship's been able to do some hyper-transwarp test, that is well ahead of schedule. But we're still lagging behind in other sections. So let's hop to it!"   
  
For the next few hours, Dr. Yamidovosok began inspecting ever little bit of the Clarel class destroyer as she could. The ship looked in good order, except for a few power surges here and there, but this was to be expected with the new gal. She had so much power stored within her that she was almost ready to burst into a full sprint without even being ordered to. The vessel's generators and engines purred loudly, professing equally well their new strength. Anderson and Davidson watched calmly as Yamidovosok did her thing, she checked the engines, and checked the impulse power generators. She mentioned misallignments and Davidson took down notes, and within the hour. She was completed, boom-done-goodbye. The entire procession had been completed so quickly that it all seemed like a blur. The Doctor stepped out of the ship, and Davidson and Anderson shared their longest kiss yet, a kiss which went beyound to a french kiss, and beyound until the two were disrupted by two pesky Ensigns. Anderson grinned, blushing bright red.   
  
"How long, till you have to leave, honey bun?" Anderson looked at Davidson, smiling and looking down at Davidson's shoes.  
  
"Very soon," Davidson replied, leaning his head on Anderson's shoulder, " I don't wanna go, I wanna stay here with you.   
  
"I want you to stay here with me too," Anderson grinned, feeling Davidson's weight on him, "But, business is business."   
  
"Uh-huh," Davidson looked up, "Can't you order me to stay?"   
  
"Nope, "Captain"," Anderson smiled as he placed the emphasis on Captain as he pretended to take a pompous attitude, "I bid you farewell, and may your ship be safe."   
  
"Uh-huh," Davidson kissed Anderson, "I'll miss you."   
  
"Me too," Anderson grinned, "Now Go!" Anderson watched as Davidson retired back into the Clarel, and he turned around and walked out of the Clarel umbilical.. He still had work to do.  


  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3 - Emergency

_The Ghost Fleet Part 3_  
Emergency **_  
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**A Year Ago, SRD Clarel (Inside Segan Sovereign Space) **  
Perfection consists not in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.  
_Angelique Arnauld  
_

  


The SRD Clarel's crew exchanged their goodbyes with the SWS Selevenar's crew as the Clarel's alarms sounded off its preparation for departure. Commander Davidson and Captain Anderson exchanged a deep kiss, just as the airlocks to the ship began to close. Davidson laughed, releasing their kiss just before the airlocks closed and began to shout goodbye through the ship's hull. Anderson smiled, hearing his voice as he rushed with his crew over to the umbilicals window. They could only see from an angle the pointed front of the SRD Clarel, but they knew the entire ship would soon pass them as the Clarel would ease herself off the central starbase of the shipyards. Minutes after, with the arrival of Commander Davidson on the Clarel's bridge, the Clarel's engines began to light up with renewed rejuvinence. The Clarel began to ease forward, like a tiger which was ready to prowl the savanah's. The SRD Clarel engaged thrusters forward as the Clarel's crew and the Selevenar's crew both waved goodbye to one another. Many shared romances with the crews amongst one another, and they had developed an intimacy rarely shared between two crews. They were the beta testers of a new generation of ships that would bring hope, justice, and victory to the Segan people. The Segan Royal Destroyer Clarel, within 10 minutes had left the starbase and was well on its way back towards Ghost Fleet Yard 1.  
  
Commander Davidson watched quietly as the Clarel entered hyper-transwarp. The impulse and hyper-transwarp engines hadn't yet been moved from decks and their was a high risk of something "wrong" that would happen. As the crew watched the viewscreen, the bridge crew looked at the ship's hull from all angles to be sure there were no discreptancies. Commander Davidson stood up and walked over to his Chief of Operations, listening to him hearing about power transfer confirmations with Engineering. Davidson nodded approvingly as his crew continued their work. Within, Engineering, however, the engines didn't sound quite right. The impulse and hyper-transwarp engines, each working at their own will, increased the sound levels being emitted within Engineering, and the Chief Engineer struggled to hear the sounds which was coming from the engines. However, the Chief Engineer, glancing over his console watched as the hyper-transwarp engines acted oddly. He ordered an auxiliary power boost to the engines, and so precipitated a risky disaster. On the bridge, aptitude control was becoming more sluggish for the navigations officer.   
  
The SRD Clarel, speeding at Warp 32 continued to increase it speeds. Commander Davidson, having just heard the problems down in Engineering ordered Red Alert. The SRD Clarel, began to angle in a 25 degree slope as the ship's aptitude control was loosing coherence. The Clarel crew knew they were in a precarious situation, the Clarel was pushing itself at Warp 41, a near emergency hyper-transwarp speed. Within the bridge, several of the power modules exploaded as the ship's stress levels quickly jumped to 90% tolerance levels. Within Engineering, the chief engineer attempted to use a feedback loop to force a shutdown of the ship's hypertranswarp engines. Warp 43.5, the ship's "supposed" destructive speed. Commander Davidson was forced with a difficult choice. With the ship heading towards destructive speed, the destroyer would kill all hands. Davidson stood up and glanced over to the intercom, he tapped it, his face gloom with abandon.   
  
"Attention all hands, " Davidson's voice boomed as the intercom passed through the entire ship, "This is a General Alert, all non-essential hands are to prepare for abandonment of this vessel. I repeat, all non-essential hands are to prepare for abandonment of this vessel. Davidson out."   
  
With Davidson's orders sent through the skrew, the ship's non-essential hands ran towards the turbolifts, screaming escape pod access as Davidson turned his way towards the emergency turbolift access to Main Engineering. The problem was unraveling in Engineering, and he didn't want to be left out. Davidson nodded and as he stepped onto the bridge, his hair showing that he had been nervously reshaping them. Davidson walked straight for the Chief Engineer's console and glanced over the console. The auxiliary-power generators were feeding the hyper-transwarp matrix with overload power. He glanced over in abandonment at the new consoles, still somewhat unaware as to their purpose, and glanced over as the Chief engineer ran towards him, standing to attention. Davidson returned the salute, and grabbed his padd, the computer at that same moment chirped and warned that the Clarel had just reached 20% above tolerance level. Davidson glanced over to the Chief engineer and exchanged a 30 second silent glance.   
  
"Any ideas?" The SRD Clarel's Commanding Officer asked, "Before this ship takes us all down?"   
  
"I've tried what I can, the feedback loop's working to shut some of the auxiliary power generators down, but it's not shutting them down fast enough," The Chief replied, glancing around at his staff, "I think this is it."   
  
"Mmmm," Davidson sighed and tapped the intercom," CONN, Engineering, launch all filled escape pods, inform the non-essential crewmembers to emit only limited distress signals to the Ghost Fleet Yards."   
  
"Engineering, CONN, that's a roger, Captain," Davidson's XO replied, as alarms blared across the ship, signalling for the escape pods to launch.   
  
"Sir, I may have an idea," Ensign Txex announced, looking over the console he had not parted for more than 5 minutes, "Use the warp engines to help the feedback loop."   
  
"Would that work?" Davidson glanced over to the Chief Engineer, although he'd never follow the Ensign's advice, his ship was in trouble.  
  
"She's already handling 20% over stress, and emergency hyper-transwarp speeds," The Chief scratched his chin in contemplation, "Let's do it."   
  
"Right," Davidson replied, tapping the console, "CONN, Engineering, we've got a new trick up our hand, stand by for 75% overstress ratings, we're going to add warp engines to the feedback loop, set course two five zero bearing two nine nine."   
  
On the bridge, the Navigations officer grabbed a hold of all the manual consoles which had replaced the automated holographic ones. Holding hard on the turnwheel, he banked the ship a 30 degree up as the warp engines were added to a dangerously explosive mix. Leaving behind a stream of escape pods which had begun to emit distress signals to Ghost Fleet Yard II, the feedback loop began to take effect. Within several minutes, the feedback loop had allowed all aptitude controllers time to reboot the systems. Within Ghost Fleet Yard II, the word had arrived that the Clarel had been in an emergency. Although the Selevenar ship was not ready for a rescue operation, the crew all amassed onto the SRD Nirvana, a Mary-Rosbourg class destroyer that had docked with the Fleet yard just days before. With Yamidovosok and Anderson side by the side, the ship was ordered to increase to hyper-transwarp speeds. On the SRD Clarel, the ship was brought to a full stop within its hyper-transwarp matrix. Commander Davidson kept his hands tight around the engineering console, glancing over at the matter/anti-matter reactor as it hummed quietly. What had just happened? He thought, as the Clarel's fierceness had barely been controlled.   
  
"If they got the distress signal, Dr. Yamadivosok should be coming very shortly," Commander Davidson glanced over to the Chief, "Find out what happened and fast."   
  
"Understood, Captain," The Chief replied, looking over to his engineering staff, "All right people, I want every scrap, every log, every monitor record we have. We've got to find out what happened!"   
  
"I'll be up on the CONN, carry-on," Davidson shouted as he walked towards the standard turbolifts.   
  
"Aye, Aye, sir!" The Chief answered, looking over to his staff as records began to be uploaded onto his console. They would find out what had happened, and would be sure to repair the problem before this vessel would be commissioned.  
  
  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4 - New Beginnings

_The Ghost Fleet Part 4_  
New Beginnings **_  
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**11 Months Ago, Ghost Fleet Yards I **  
Remember tonight.. for it is the beginning of always.  
_Unattributed  
_

  


Commander Davidson glanced over his padd as he turned his head to the windows that showed from the Ghost Fleet Yard the docked vessels of the Ghost Fleet. There stood the finished product of the SRD Clarel, the first Clarel Class Destroyer, and next to her the much larger SWS Selevenar, the first Selevenar Class Battleship. He remembered the fifth time they had taken the Clarel Class destroyer to effectuate the modifications on the location of the hyper-transwarp space drive and the impulse generators. He remembered clearly when the ship had been taken beyound the destructive warp limits and had survived it. He remembered having order the ejection of the escape pods, and the transmission of the limited distress signal to the Ghost Fleet shipyards. Commander Davidson smiled, remembering when the Selevenar's crew arrived using an antiquated Segan Mary-Rosbourg Class destroyer to rescue them.   
  
Commander Davidson looked at the padd a second time, as he placed it close to his chest. He walked over to the window to have a closer look at his destroyer. The S.R.D. Clarel was his fifth command in what had been a glorious career. He remembered when he was offered the job of testing the S.R.D. Clarel following his command assignment on the Ulysees where he had succesfully held off a sneak attack from seperatists from some outpost in the Selec quadrant. He had afterwards succesfully negotiated a settlement with seperatists that, an agreement which to this day was continuing to hold the peace. Commander Davidson's accomplishments had earned him a brow raise back on Segania Prime that eventually got him the post to lead the experimenting crew of the S.R.D. Clarel. Commander Davidson watched as a work bee completed soe work on the bio-metallical hull of the S.R.D Clarel, as the last modifying touch by Dr. Yamadivosok, that of adding additional stabilizing wings at the aft section of the Clarel Class destroyer was almost completed.  
  
Commander Davidson turned around, and smiled as Captain Anderson made his way through the crowd. Almost ninety percent of the officers on the ship yards were boasting the new ACG uniforms that were designed solely for use by the Ghost Fleet. Captain Anderson too was now wearing his yellow and gray uniform with the rank pin of a Captain. Commander Davidson approached him, kissing him before he made any exchange of words. Behind him, he could hear the massive engines of the Clarel Class Destroyer activate, making a small melodic, but screechy noise that sounded crystallic. The impulse engines had been activated by his executive Commander Davidson rationalized, as his lips parted from that of Captain Anderson.   
  
"Hello Patrick, how are you doing?" Davidson asked his lover, as he noticed that on Patrick's hand was a padd.   
  
"Doing quite well, Andy," Anderson replied, watching the Clarel Class starship's crew start to board, "I wanted to see you before you left on your next assignment."   
  
"Yes, we're leaving in forty-five minutes aren't we," Davidson sighed, "I know, Patrick, I'm going to put in for a transfer to your ship!"   
  
Anderson laughed, "Now now, Andy, you're a leader of great caliber, I wouldn't want you wasting your skills."   
  
"I suppose you're right," he walked closer to Anderson and gave him a small and friendly hug, "I will miss you every day and night we are not together."   
  
Anderson kissed Andy Davidson's forehead as he embraced his lover firmly, "And I will you as well, hun."   
  
"Have you just recieved your first orders?" Davidson looked into Anderson's eyes, not wanting to touch on further emotions.   
  
"Yes, in fact. Just got them a few minutes ago," Anderson pulled the padd from his back pocket and proceeded to read his mission, "To Captain Patrick Anderson, Commanding Officer, S.W.S. Selevenar, you and your crew are to proceed directly to the Gilbraltar star system where you will lead your crew through a series of advanced battle simulations to test the battle readiness of your starship. The Selevenar is to depart from Ghost Fleet Shipyard I at 16:00 hours tommorow. Mission Authentication Alpha Bravo Zulu 3343."   
  
"Gilbratar, heh?" Davidson smiled, pulling away from Anderson's warm embrace, "It's only a few days away from where we will be assigned, Patrick. They want us to navigate through an asteroid field to test the maneuverability of the vessel, and then they want us to take some shoreleave."   
  
"That's awesome, hun!" Anderson shouted, allowing his emotions of excitement out, "That means you'll be able to join us the moment your shoreleave is completed, correct?!?"   
  
"Exactly Patrick!" Davidson's smile grew wider, "Listen, I gotta go, my ship's getting ready to leave, and I don't want her to leave without me."   
  
"Okay, hun," Anderson kissed his lover one last time, "Take care!"   
  
"I will," Davidson turned around and walked the last steps of the umbilical and entered the airlock that led to his ship, he turned around, offering Anderson the Vulcan handsign as the airlock closed.   
  
Captain Patrick Anderson, the Commanding Officer of the S.W.S. Selevenar, waved cooly at the airlock. He turned around and walked down the umbilical after two minutes, so as to not be inside the umbilical when the S.R.D. Clarel would seperate from it. As he stepped off the umbilical, into the next viewing station which was just next to it, the umbilical's red lights activated as the computer gave the warning of an impending umbilical seperation. Anderson watched from inside the beautiful Clarel Class destroyer as it prepared for departure. The vessel's pointed nose was directly in front of him, blocked to him by only a few layers of plexiglass. It was from here that Anderson would content himself with the departure of his lover. After a few minutes, the Clarel Class destroyer's umbilical link was severed, with the umbilical being pushed back from the destroyer. Almost immediately afterwards, the Clarel's engines crystallic sound filled the room as the Clarel backed away from its parking spot.   
  
Inside the Clarel class starship, Commander Andy Davidson was busy standing up on the bridge, relishing the fact that this was the Clarel's first mission. There was no flamboyant casting off for the ship, nor any mission of particular important, just a small simple test of her maneuverability. Captain Patrick Anderson's first assignment was similar to his, a testing of the Selevenar's combat capabilities in the Gilbraltar System, a quiet system that was in the outer fringes of the Segan Monarchy's sovereign space. These were humble beginnings for these two starships who would within twelve months become part of a five thousand ship fleet. Andy Davidson looked over his padd, re-reading the mission operations guidelines. His Executive Officer smiled to him as she ordered to the Navigations Officer to lay in a course for the Paralys asteroid belt.   
  
"Commander," Davidson looked at Lt. Cmdr. Valerie Dupont, "Ship-wide, please."   
  
Aye, Captain," Dupont tapped the intercom open, as a chirp rang through the bridge," All Divisions, CONN. Captain has a word for us."   
  
"All Divisions, this is the Captain," Davidon looked over to Dupont, "Our orders are to proceed to the Paralys asteroid belt where we will effectuate several maneuvers test on the Clarel. I am certain we will be able to give Command a lot of data to analyze. Once we are completed with those maneuvers, we will proceed to the Janis Star system where we have been instructed by Command to enjoy a one week shore-leave. This is a very simple assignment which I am sure we will accomplish with diligence and good work. We're the first ship in a fleet that will defend our Segan Monarchy with diligence, honor, and loyalty. I am proud to have you on my crew, and I hope that together we can begin a new chapter in Segan history."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
